F1 Fantasy: top picks & predictions for the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc has almost always ranked highly in Motor Sport’s F1 Fantasy strategy guides — and for good reason. Across the 2024 F1 campaign so far, the ultra-quick Ferrari driver has scored the third-most points (502); retained the second-highest value (scoring 1.04 points per million spent); secured the third-most podiums (10); set the second-most fastest laps (2); and earned the second-most driver of the day awards (4). That’s not bad for a driver who costs $6.2m less than Max Verstappen and $1.6m less than Lando Norris.

However, there’s a reason that Leclerc only features in 30% of all F1 Fantasy teams: his blistering pace seemingly only comes in short and frustrating spurts. 2024 has been a good example of his up-and-down form.

After a brilliant start to the campaign — in which he bagged a win at Monaco alongside four more podium finishes — Leclerc experienced a small mid-season slump: failing to finish in Canada before finishing fifth in Spain, 11th in Austria and 14th at Silverstone. Not only did this run of ill-fortune throw Ferrari’s front man out of realistic drivers’ title contention, but it also resulted in just 20 F1 Fantasy points scored over four races. That’s not a great return for a driver who costs over a quarter of your starting budget ($25.5m).

That said, for every Leclerc slump comes a meteoric rise and there’s reason to believe that F1’s Prince of Monaco is currently ‘on the up’ — possibly making him the best driver currently available for your F1 Fantasy squad.

Since his victory at the 2024 Italian Grand Prix, Leclerc has scored an average of 37.5 F1 Fantasy points per race weekend. That’s 2.75 more than Norris per weekend and 12.75 more than Verstappen over the same four-race spell.

Leclerc’s run of form has a good chance of continuing. Ferrari is tipped as a favourite for victory in Mexico City, with the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez sharing similar high-speed characteristics with Monza and Azerbaijan — circuits where the Scuderia and Leclerc in particular was strong.

At the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix, Leclerc stormed to pole position almost a tenth clear of team-mate Carlos Sainz and was only forced to settle for third after he made contact with Sergio Perez on lap one and later had his strategy compromised by a red flag restart.

Leclerc’s cheaper price tag against the likes of Norris and Verstappen will also allow you to fill out the rest of your F1 Fantasy line-up with more competitive options — helping you to narrow the gap or build up your advantage in the F1 Fantasy leaderboards as the season end approaches.

Read on for our tips and predictions for the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix and remember to join our Motor Sport Fantasy league.

There are more on the rules and scoring in our F1 Fantasy full guide; and if you need some creative inspiration, check out our F1 Fantasy team name generator. For more information on the chips available and when to use them, we’ve got an F1 Fantasy chips explainer too.

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How to score the most F1 Fantasy points at the Mexico City GP

This Mexico City GP weekend signals a return to normality in some respects, as teams will get three full practice sessions to adapt to life at 2,240 meters above sea level.

If you can, we’d recommend keeping an eye on the results of each session before locking in your line-up ahead of the F1 Fantasy deadline — which expires on Saturday October 26 at 10pm GMT. Although we have a rough idea of the running order, the thin air of Mexico City can sometimes throw a spanner in the works and free practice will provide the first indications of each team’s performance level.

By the same token, if the unique conditions of the Mexico GP do switch-up in the running order, it may be a good opportunity to use your Final Fix chip (which allows you to make a single change to your F1 Fantasy line-up after qualifying) if you still have it. For example, if Mercedes were to have a sudden resurgence in form, you could activate this chip to switch in Lewis Hamilton/George Russell for a similarly priced driver — putting yourself in a better position to score big points in Sunday’s Grand Prix.

If you have picked Leclerc over Norris and Verstappen to lead your F1 Fantasy line-up in Mexico City, you should have enough budget to select a Mexico-focused line-up that has form at higher altitudes.

Here’s who we recommend:

Kevin Magnussen/Nico Hülkenberg ✅

On home soil at COTA, Haas proved a force to be reckoned with: finishing seventh and eighth in the sprint and eighth and eleventh in the Grand Prix. And in similar conditions in Mexico City, a similar result could be on the cards.

But while picking up the constructor card for $11.5m doesn’t make a lot of sense — as picking two-top tier constructors’ has long been the best way to score major weekly points — including at least one half of the team’s experienced driver line-up could be a good way to introduce some consistency into the line-up.

Nico Hülkenberg has long been one our picks for the best value driver on the grid, as for $11.2m he’s scored more F1 Fantasy points than Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll and team-mate Kevin Magnussen — all of which cost at least $1.6m more.

That said, if you can find a way of squeezing him into your line-up, the $12.9m Magnussen could also be a great addition to your team. The Dane was ranked amongst the top midfield scorers in the first half of the season before a run of poor results forced him down the order — a one-race ban in Baku also didn’t help!

Lewis Hamilton/George Russell ❌

Mercedes had a race weekend to forget at the US Grand Prix with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton both crashing out after new upgrades made their cars “bounce”.

The team appears unsure as to what set-up it will run in Mexico: Russell’s crash at COTA means that he’ll have to resort to an older specification of floor, while Hamilton is expected to run the update, despite reportedly being unconvinced by it.

We’d recommend avoiding the Brackley outfit entirely, with its performance currently behind Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari.

It may be tempting to include Russell, who scored 38 F1 Fantasy points during his rise through the field at COTA, but we’d suggest spending his $22m price tag elsewhere — possibly on a cheaper and red hot rookie….

Liam Lawson ✅

Liam Lawson marked his return to Formula 1 with a brilliant drive through the field in COTA: starting from 19th due to grid penalties and finishing ninth during Sunday’s US GP.

The Kiwi earned 20 F1 Fantasy points in the process — only four less than Alex Albon has managed all season — and for only $10.7m, he’s rapidly become one of the best budget drivers the grid has to offer. Without grid penalties in Mexico, we’ll see just how competitive he is in qualifying.

Franco Colapinto remains a good alternative and on Mexico’s high-speed straights Williams could perform well.

But with a possible seat at Red Bull for 2025 on the line, Lawson could continue to grow in confidence — resulting in great F1 Fantasy returns.

Yuki Tsunoda ❌

Yuki Tsunoda dropped behind new team-mate Liam Lawson during his second stint at the United States Grand Prix and later spun at Turn 1. His unconvincing drive ultimately ended in 14th place, netting him two F1 Fantasy points.

Tsunoda’s history at the Mexico City GP isn’t very convincing either, as in 2023 he qualified 18th and later finished 12th after clashing with Oscar Piastri. In 2022 he failed to finish entirely after crashing into Daniel Ricciardo.

So do yourself in 2024, and spend Yuki’s $10.1m price tag on someone else…ideally Lawson.

My F1 Fantasy team for the US GP

For the Mexico City GP, I’ve switched out Verstappen for Leclerc which opens up the rest of my budget so I can pick some better midfield options writes Cambridge Kisby. 

As a result of selling Verstappen, who went up by $0.1m in price over the US GP weekend, I’ve been able to replace Zhou Guanyu with Kevin Magnussen, who joins fellow Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg and red-hot rookie Franco Colapinto.

As always, Ferrari and McLaren remain my constructors of choice.